Forecast: Cloudy with 100% Chance of Partner Success

Written by VMware Guest Blog
February 28, 2014

With VMware Partner Exchange 2014 in the rearview mirror, one thing has become very clear: VMware partners are now enabled more than ever before to achieve success in the rapidly growing world of cloud computing.

From the ongoing growth and success of the VMware Service Provider Program to the VMware Cloud Credits Purchasing Program (launched at Partner Exchange 2013) to vCloud Hybrid Service, VMware is providing unparalleled options for all partner types in the VMware partner ecosystem to succeed. Let’s take an in-depth look at the opportunities for success in the cloud with each program.

The VMware Service Provider Program (VSPP) enables the success of public/hybrid cloud by providing service provider partners with an OpEx strategy for investing in VMware infrastructure on a monthly subscription model. By offering VMware-based cloud services, service providers can deliver enterprise-class security and infrastructure compatibility based on the same technology as their customer’s internal IT infrastructure. VSPP is the ideal solution for companies who offer hosted services to third parties, such as infrastructure as a service (IaaS) providers, cloud service providers, application service providers (ASPs), Internet service providers (ISPs) and platform as a service (PaaS) providers.

VSPP partners represent a growing network of cloud providers offering a variety of VMware-based services to their customers. In addition to the services outlined above, VMware’s Horizon desktop as a service (DaaS) platform was purpose-built for service providers with a robust, secure, scalable and cost-effective platform for delivering cloud-hosted virtual desktops.

What can DaaS do for your customers? With a primary focus on delivering Windows desktops and applications as a cloud service to any user, anywhere on any device the benefits of DaaS are extensive. Learn more today by visiting VMware to identify a DaaS provider you can work with. VSPP partners who align with vCloud or DaaS technology can validate their solution and gain vCloud Powered or Horizon DaaS Powered status. Partners who attain either status will benefit from being part of the network of service providers listed on VMware’s end user website. To find out more about the unique service offerings of VMware’s VSPP partner community click here.

VMware is also enabling cloud success for solution providers with the Cloud Credits Purchasing Program. The VMware Cloud Credits Purchasing Program enables end user customers to buy public/hybrid cloud services in a single transaction or an Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) from VMware solution providers, control their consumption of the cloud and redeem the credits with approved VMware vCloud Service Providers over time. The program gives customers budget flexibility and control while maximizing the benefits of cloud services and enabling the solution provider to maintain the “trusted advisor” relationship with their customer. Customers manage their Cloud Credits in their My VMware account, enabling them to view and manage funds, then redeem credits for public/hybrid cloud as their business demands dictate. As a partner, you’ll want to learn more about how Cloud Credits can help you—and your customers—achieve success in the cloud. Watch the video to learn more.

vCloud Hybrid Service

Without a doubt, the launch of VMware’s vCloud Hybrid Service last year was one of the most significant product launches in VMware history. VMware vCloud Hybrid Service is a secure, dedicated infrastructure-as-a-service hybrid cloud owned and hosted by VMware, built on the trusted foundation of VMware vSphere. The service supports existing applications and new application development, giving customers a common platform for seamlessly extending their existing data center to the cloud while leveraging the same tools and processes VMware customers use today. Key use cases for vCloud Hybrid Service include:

Packaged Applications: vCloud Hybrid Service supports the thousands of applications and dozens of operating systems certified to run on vSphere, so customers can run existing applications in the cloud with no changes required. This addresses a major shortcoming of many other cloud providers’ offerings—the requirement to re-architect packaged applications and configurations to run on that cloud provider’s specific platform. With vCloud Hybrid Service, customers don’t have to rewrite or re-architect their existing applications and they get the same level of security, availability, and performance they already get from their onsite VMware infrastructure.
Web/E-Commerce: vCloud Hybrid Service delivers a secure, cost-effective and easily scalable platform for deployment of web and e-commerce applications. vCloud Hybrid Service is built on a seamless virtualized network that’s quickly customizable to support application and security needs. Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks can stretch seamlessly from your data center to vCloud Hybrid Service without the need for manual configuration changes.
Backup/Archiving/Storage: Built on vSphere, vCloud Hybrid Service offers automated replication, monitoring and high availability for customer applications. Customers can use remote storage to provide a lower-cost backup facility, which can be leveraged in the event of service disruption.
Enterprise IT/Outsourced Data Center: vCloud Hybrid Service provides the on demand capacity and scalability customers need to quickly react to changing requirements for IT resources. Customers allocate and provision resources when and where they need them. A common, unified management platform enables administration of the entire hybrid infrastructure—data centers and public cloud—with a “single pane of glass” management framework.
Development/QA/Test: Developers need an agile, flexible, dynamic environment for developing and testing software applications. vCloud Hybrid Service leverages customers existing investments, processes and expertise to lower the cost of ownership. Seamless interoperability enables the freedom to quickly deploy dev/test workloads to the cloud, with the flexibility to move them back onsite as requirements change.

Solution providers wishing to transact vCloud Hybrid Service need to obtain VMware’s Hybrid Cloud Solution Competency. The VMware Hybrid Cloud Solution Competency enables partners to successfully sell cloud services and seamlessly migrate customers from physical to cloud (P2C), or migrate customers from the private cloud to the public cloud. The competency provides the foundational training required for partners to deliver VMware Hybrid Cloud Service, giving partners the opportunity to participate and gain influence in the cloud discussion with customers.

To make moving customer workloads to vCloud Hybrid Service or a vCloud service provider cloud even easier for the VMware partner community, vCloud Connector is now free! VMware vCloud Connector links vSphere-based private and public clouds via a single interface, allowing you to manage them as a single hybrid environment. You can transfer virtual machines (VMs), vApps (collections of VMs with related resource controls and network settings) and templates from one vSphere-based cloud to another. You can also set up a content library to distribute and synchronize templates across clouds and extend a single Layer 2 network from your private data center to a vSphere-based public cloud.

VMware offers customers the greatest choice of cloud deployment platforms in the industry today through the combination of our vCloud Hybrid Service and our vCloud service provider partners, and VMware offers partners opportunities for success in the cloud through the various partner programs and enablement tools.

Best Regards,

Jay Workman
Director, Cloud Partner Marketing
VMware

Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly, and are part of The VAR Guy's annual platinum sponsorship.